ASIC Issues 332 AFS licenses and 149 Credit Licenses in FY23

On Thursday, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC), the Australian financial market regulator, announced that 332 new Australian Financial Services (AFS) licenses were approved in the 2023 fiscal year (July 2022 to June 2023). In addition, it has approved 509 variants of the AFS license, 149 credit licenses, and 114 variants of it.

In addition to the approved licenses, ASIC has finalized 360 AFS and credit license applications, but they have not yet been approved. The regulatory agency received a total of 1,272 license applications in FY23. In the previous fiscal year (between July 2021 and June 2022), ASIC issued 578 new licenses and received 1,469 applications for both licenses.

ASIC is the top financial markets regulator in Australia, responsible for licensing and supervising all activities in the industry. Financial service companies, including the margin FX and contracts for differences (CFDs) providers, must obtain an AFS license to provide services in the country.

“Our report highlights the important gatekeeping role served by ASIC’s Licensing function. It ensures applicants seeking an Australian financial services license, credit license, or professional registration meet the high standards required to provide these regulated services,” said Warren Day, ASIC's Chief Executive Officer.

“We are continuing to make a number of improvements to ASIC's Licensing processes and systems. These include increased engagement with stakeholders during the application process, ongoing work to develop a new licensing portal, and streamlining our workflow systems to make it easier for stakeholders to interact with ASIC.”

On top of the new licenses, ASIC has also withdrawn or refused 401 license applications for lodgement and revoked an additional 515 licenses. In addition, it has suspended 26 licenses.

(Source: Finance Magnates)